Nacita walked on at Baylor in June, homeless and hungry, with a few dollars saved from waiting tables. After workouts, he slept on the apartment floors of friends.

In August, Nacita began classes with a financial-aid package that included money for tuition but none for books. Occasionally, Nacita borrowed a text from a classmate. Sometimes, he snapped pictures of book pages in the student bookstore and studied the images on his phone.

Often, he relied on his smarts. “I had to take a lot of my classes on memory,” he says. Bookless and broke, Nacita made Academic All-Big 12.

In its profile last December, Sports Illustrated said his story was an inspiration.

The school told him the news in February. So he went on a mission trip, cleaning out an abandoned church and working with kids.

“It was a reminder that life isn’t about me,” he said.

On March 25, Nacita sat down in a room with Baylor officials and learned the news that he was anticipating all along: His NCAA ineligibility was final.

“I didn’t shed a tear in the meeting. I wasn’t angry. I shook their hands,” he said. “It was a pleasant conversation. I didn’t go into the meeting expecting good news. I went in expecting confirmation, and that’s what I got. I had a little hope in the back of my heart, but when they told me, it was almost a relief. I could start thinking about my future.”

Although playing for an NCAA program is no longer an option, the process of continuing his football career has already begun. It began only hours after the word became official, and in reality, the brainstorming began far earlier than that. Nacita has already started researching NAIA schools in the area, and he is encouraged that he will be able to continue to play football somewhere.

It won’t be in Waco or at a program that carries the same prestige, but that is of limited importance now. There is a dream still to chase, and nothing will stop him from chasing it. The window to play football in front of fans and for himself is still open, even if it’s not like it once was.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories.